Card of the Week

The card of the week is an older card of John Roseboro, catcher for many years on the Dodgers. He replaced the legendary Roy Campanella on June 14,1957 as the starting catcher and then Campy was injured irreparably in the infamous accident the following January.

John was a solid catcher but certainly not spectacular, he would never be confused with a Johnny Bench or a Yogi Berra. He was great at handling the incredible Dodger pitching staff. The most infamous moment was the night of August 22, 1965 when he was whacked 3 times by future Hall of Famer Juan Marichal. Juan had brushed back some Dodger hitters, but Sandy Koufax was not willing to retaliate. If Drysdale had been on the mound he would have retaliated, no questions asked. Anyway Marichal alledges that Roseboro threw the return toss to the pitcher awfully close a couple of times and the third time he said Roseboro was throwing close to his nose. Of course, John denies all of this. But the fiery Dominican turned and clubbed Roseboro 3 times with the bat opening a nice, bloody two inch gash. It made a great picture on the sports page. Years later as Marichal was being denied entry into the Hall of Fame Roseboro wrote a letter to the Hall and the next year Juan Marichal was inducted. They became good friends after their careers and appeared often in Old Timers games at Dodger Stadium and around the league.

I thought this card had a cool design and the rear part of the card was unique for its time, at least in my memory.